Syrian opposition calls on West to launch strike against Assad

SNC: Our friends must not stop at words; move will bring down regime.

Syrian opposition 370.
(photo credit:REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)

PARIS - The opposition Syrian National Coalition urged the West to launch a punitive strike against Bashar Assad's government quickly
and offer real military and political support to stop people being
"exterminated."

US President Barack Obama has made a case for a limited
military strike against Syria in response to last week's alleged chemical
weapons attack, but any action could be slowed down by the presence of UN weapons
inspectors near Damascus and the need to ease divisions in Britain and among
US lawmakers.

Syrian National Coalition president Ahmad Jarba told the
French daily Le Parisien in an interview published on Thursday he hoped to see a
strike and support for the Syrian Free Army.

He said Assad should be
tried in the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

"If Western states, which profess democratic and humanist
values, stay quiet, Assad will deduce that there is no obstacle to him carrying
out crimes. Our people risk being exterminated."

France has said it is ready to
punish those behind the chemical attack, but Britain changed its stance on
Wednesday, saying the United Nations Security Council should first see the
weapons inspectors' findings and that the British parliament would hold two
votes before any military action is taken.

A French warship, the
Chevalier Paul, left its dock at the Mediterranean port of Toulon this week,
shipping authorities told Reuters on Thursday, though they declined to confirm a
media report that the frigate was headed to Syria.

Military sources said
France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was still docked in Toulon as of
Thursday.

Jarba urged the allies to make a decision.

"If there is
intervention, the regime will not survive for long. What's essential is to take
a courageous decision," Jarba said. "We need our friends. They should not stop
at just words."

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